The present invention relates in general to medical anesthesia apparata and particularly to a dental anesthesia apparatus for use with transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) equipment for generating and transmitting anesthetic electrical impulse waves to a patient's mouth for use in dental operations and procedures.
While the development and utilization of wave generation equipment for use as anesthesia and/or for reducing pain to muscular tissue has occurred over the last several decades, only lately has there been the introduction of TENS equipment capable of generating relatively new waveforms which more effectively relieve pain and/or increase the pain threshold in an individual or animal. One such example of TENS equipment for pain relief, capable of generating an "H-wave", is disclosed in now abandoned patent application Ser. No. 06/243,892.
Certainly, controls for altering the frequency and/or intensity of such generated waves on such TENS equipment have existed in the past. But few if any of the wave transmission devices have utilized the remote controlling of generated wave intensity, so as to permit immediate variation (increases or decreases) in wave generation intensity in immediate response to the pain being experienced, by, for example, the patient. Moreover, few of any of the prior art devices have addressed specific transmission and localization of the generated wave for use as an anesthetic in the potentially hazardous electrical-conducting region of the internal mouth.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a dental anesthetic module for use in association with wave generation equipment which safely and effectively transmits generated impulse waves from TENS equipment for particular use in a dental patient's mouth.
It is additionally an object of the present invention to provide such transmission means for utilization in a dental patient's mouth, of such a construction which precludes contact with electrical conducting portions of the transmission circuit with the electrically conducting environment manifested by a patient's mouth and to reduce shorts, burns and discomfort associated therewith.
As a further object of the present invention, is the provision of wave transmission means for directing the generated electrical impulse wave from transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation equipment which transmission means possesses remote intensity control means to permit a patient and/or dentist to increase or decrease the intensity of the transmitted wave in immediate and direct response to the extent of pain being experienced by the patient and accordingly, to preclude the need for controlling intensity directly from the TENS equipment itself.
A further object of the invention includes a provision of such a wave generation apparatus which is inexpensive to manufacture which, at the same time, is easy to connect into existing TENS equipment through facilitated "jacking" techniques, while being capable of having the elements coming into contact with the patient's mouth withstand the effects of sterilization through conventional autoclave techniques.
As an additional object of the invention is the provision of such a dental apparatus for transmission of TENS equipment wave impulses which apparatus possesses, on the remote control portion, dial scale and/or light indicia means capable of disclosing to the patient or dentist the extent of intensity of waveform being transmitted to the dental procedure and into the mouth.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent in light of the present specification and drawings.